Chillicothe — A replacement of the city street levy is on the ballot in little more than two weeks. The city wants voters to know how important and needed it is, to fund continued street and alley maintenance…but a critical part of the ballot language is not what the city intended.
Chillicothe Council hosted a short public information session to explain the levy on Thursday evening, April 16th, 2026, in the public library Main Annex.
Councilman Jeff Creed, chair of the Finance and Technology committee that oversaw the levy, led the meeting. He talked through a fact sheet, below, that is available on his Facebook page. Hear him in his own words, also below.
Creed added that the streets and alleys vary in width, and so the mileage listed is not the best way to measure them. He said the city has about 17M square feet of pavement. They have replaced about 10.2M of it, about 60% – so it would take 16 to 17 years to replace all of it.
Also, Creed said in the next 6 to 7 years the city will have better data to know if the 0.2% levy works. He said it has been ideal, so far.
The street and alley levy collected a 0.2% tax on earned income, for those who live in or work in the city. That excludes retirement income. The city has said that the levy was limited to 10 years to force a review on it and allow voters to re-approve it.
Council could not get a renewal on the fall ballot, and the levy expired at the end of 2025, so the city has already lost out on collecting it until after it might pass, Creed pointed out.
Council passed a resolution to put the issue on the spring ballot, limiting it again to 10 years. But he and council president Kevin Shoemaker said that state law no longer allows “temporary” tax levies, and so a decision was made at the local and state elections level to change the language to a permanent tax…and the city learned about that only last week.
It is too late to change the ballot language, and so Shoemaker said he is working with Mayor Luke Feeney and the Law Director to figure out the ramifications.
They said council is considering taking action to change the permanent levy into a 10-year levy if it passes – but they are unsure if that is possible.
They hope to have answers for the next information session, in a week, at the First Church of God at 780 Water Street. That starts at 6:30pm on April 23rd.
Election Day is Tuesday, May 5th.
